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By William Duncan

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23 Jul 2012 11:55:00

The top marksman market for the London 2012 Games is dominated by Brazil's star strikers, but Willie Duncan is plumping for a young Mexican at big odds

The Olympic football tournament gets underway this week and with just under a month to go until the English football season kicks off, it is an event which is sure to capture the imagination of many footballing enthusiasts to ease them through the final weeks of pre-season.

As with any major tournament, there are plenty of opportunities for punters to squeeze a profit from the event and one of the most interesting ways is via the top goalscorer market.

Brazil were in hugely impressive form when they easily disposed of Team GB in a friendly match last Friday night.

And it will come as no surprise to see no fewer than three Brazilians featuring in the top four in the betting.

Santos star Neymar, who scored from the penalty spot in Brazil's 2-0 victory, is chalked up as Paddy Power's 6/1 (7.0) joint favourite to land the top goalscorer prize.

He is sure to be a strong contender given that he already has an astonishing 110 career goals to his name at the tender age of 20.

Fellow countryman Alexandre Pato, who plays his club football with AC Milan, joins Neymar at the top of the betting market, with Paddy Power also offering 6/1 (7.0) that the 22-year-old striker bags the top prize.

Porto star Hulk, one of Brazil’s over-23 selections, is chalked up at a tempting 8/1 (9.0) with Paddy Power to be the tournament's top goalscorer, while the Brazilian trio are split in the market by Spain's Adrian Lopez, who can be backed at 13/2 (7.50) to snare the top prize.

Uruguayan duo Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez are also likely to attract attention from punters and they can be backed at 8/1 (9.0) and 10/1 (12.0) respectively with Paddy Power to fire themselves to the top of the scoring charts.

One player at a massive price to take the top goalscorer accolade is Mexico's Marco Fabian.

Fabian has netted 13 times in just 12 appearances at under-23 level and was topscorer in both the Toulon Tournament and the Concacaf qualifying tournament for the Olympics.

The in-form frontman represents outstanding value at a chunky 33/1 (34.0) with Paddy Power to be the tournament topscorer, and that price is certainly worthy of support in a market which is notoriously difficult to predict. Backing him each-way could still secure a solid profit at such a big price.